Lancaster-Lebanon and YAIAA Championships

Lancaster-Lebanon League Championships

Well Hempfield looked fantastic in their win at the L-L championships. A great spread of 37 seconds and a 2^nd place finish from Duncan Brady helped them beat out J.P. McCaskey by 54 points despite McCaskey’s 11 points after 3 runners. The 3-5 back of White, Norton, and Mattes is really encouraging. This spread is great as well. I think they’ll be able to mix it up well at the D3 championships. McCaskey’s lack of a 5^th man will bar them from making it out of districts. Aidan Fife was their 5^th man at Carlisle, but the time spread was similar. Nathan Henderson looks like a lock out of District 3 however after beating Duncan Brady and Brian Delany quite handily. 

YAIAA Championships

This meet went as expected really. New Oxford’s Aaron Gebhart looked great with a 25 second win over Brady Wilt. His time is 3 seconds slow than last season, so he’s still a bit behind where he was last season, but maybe he’s working more towards regionals after his 16^th place finish last year. Either way I think he’s a lock in for a medal this season, just maybe not in top 10 shape yet. Wilt and Mears were 7 seconds apart this race and looked good with sub 16:45 clockings. Dan Filler out of Gettysburg had another good race and seems like a lock to make it out of the AA District 3. He was a second behind DiCintio last season and has raced well this season (finished in the top 6 all 4 race he’s been in). 

York Suburban’s team continues to look fantastic with a 3 second spread runners 3-5 and a 35 overall spread. I think they’re the top AA team by far and took everyone to down this weekend with a score of 32 points to second place Dallastown’s 120.

Ed Narkiewicz All-League Meet

Big things from this League in a very exciting team title race, but let me start by giving props to Dominic Hockenbury who earned himself another win. This one in a time of 15:44 over second place finisher Jack Tidball’s 16:04. Hockenbury has looked fantastic this season and seems like a lock for the AA title. 

Tunkhannock finished 2-3 with Tidball and Toczko, but Berwick gets a huge upset win with 80 points to Hazleton Area’s 87 and Tunkhannock’s 89. Berwick was led by low stick senior Dylan Gearinger and then a strong 20 second spread back 2-5 placed between 16^th and 23^rd. This is a great looking squad and I love the close spread behind a strong low stick. Tunkhannock have a nice 3-4 punch behind their great top 2, but a struggling 5^th man hurts them, although their 5 and 6 runners were just a second apart, so there is room for someone to go for it and have a big race.

The team I really want to talk about here is Hazleton Area. They have a 1:12 second spread 1-7 with their 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 7^th runners being freshman! Also they have only 1 second on their top 7 and he’s their 5^th man (just 2 seconds in front of their 6^th man and 3 seconds in front of their 7^th). These guys are looking fantastic for the future and hopefully they can make it out of the AAA race in District 2 against strong teams like North Pocono and Abington Heights who both return 4 of 5 varsity runners from last season about 3^rd and 2^nd place finishes respectively to Hazleton Area 6^th place finish. 

Bicentennial Athletic League Championships

John McLoughlin looked great in his 17:04 victory at Tyler State Park over District 1A’s top returner Greg Ghouse from New Hope-Solebury. McLoughlin will look to keep the individual District 1AA championship, but he’ll have to beat some strong Pottsgrove runners to do so. 

Freedom Invitational

After Griffin Mackey took 2xAA track champion Domenic Peretta to task by 30 seconds, but Peretta seems to be getting his XC legs behind him with a 14 seconds win over Mackey. Maybe Etrain was right about Peretta having a big XC year. I’m not totally jumping on the bandwagon yet, but so far he’s beginning to make his mark.

Avonworth looked like the best 7A team with a 72 point victory in a spread of 55 seconds. Hopewell finished second in 105 while Beaver Area beat out Sewickley Academy in the team race on their 6^th man. 

Berks County Championships

Jack DiCintio looked strong with a 5 second victory over D3AAA stub Jacob Connors. Jesse Mills also had a solid race in 17:09 and should be able to make it to the state meet. Twin Valley looked amazing with a 35 seconds spread 1-5 (10 seconds 1-4), which gave them an easy win in 39 points to Wilson’s 66 points. 

Friends School League Championships

Nick Dahl looked great with a win in 16:12. Newmann and Happ seemed strong 2-3’s.

 

That's all for Now Folks!

--ForrestCRN